It's All Fun and Games Until Someone Loses an Eye

It’s been awhile since I’ve posted, but tonight seems the perfect night to catch up. It’s incredibly cold and rainy and gusty outside, but here I lie, all bundled up with my comforter and my heating pad feeling as toasty as can be. I love this kind of weather because it makes me feel so happy to be inside. The only thing that could make this better were if the fake fireplace in our bedroom actually worked and I could lie here listening to the snap – crackle- pop of a real wood fire.

Well, I guess there might be one other thing that would make this evening better – it might be nice if I could move my torso more than a few inches in any direction with out suffering the incredible aching pain that is the result of crashing my go-kart into another go-kart earlier today.

A small group of us played hooky from work this afternoon and went to a go-kart race track. It was loads of fun and I laughed so hard that I was nearly in tears on the ride out there. Once at the race track we chose our helmets, reviewed the safety rules, and then took to the tracks. We were on the oval track which meant it was all about speed. I gunned it on the straight aways, braked slightly going into the curves and then gunned it again coming out of the curve. It was a little scary, but since I like to drive fast anyway, it was perfect.

I’d taken about 15 laps around the course and was laser focused on speed when a kart in front of me spun out and ended in a dead stop just on the other side of the curve. I didn’t see the kart until it was too late and I crashed right into it.

The impact threw me up and over to my right and I came down HARD against my right ribs on the engine which sat just to the side of the drivers seat (just like in the picture). It hurt like hell – felt like someone had thrown a bowling ball at my side ribs – and it completely knocked the wind out of me. I had that terribly feeling where for several seconds I couldn’t breath at all. The last time I had the wind knocked out of me was when I was a Freshman in high school and my brother socked me in the stomach because I called him stupid. (I think that was the last time I said that!)

I tried to sit up, to pull my self back behind the wheel of the kart, but I literally couldn’t move. There was no breath left in me and my entire right side was throbbing in pain. I felt tears begin to well up in my eyes, but I wanted to be ok! I was having too much fun to let it end this way.

The guy who worked at the track was perfect. As soon as he established that I was more or less ok, he told me I was tough and to get back out there. That was all I needed. I gave my coworkers who were watching from the side a big thumbs up and then took off again, albeit a bit more cautiously. All went well until a kart in front of me again spun out and I had to hit my brakes to keep from hitting him. Unfortunately, my braking caused another kart to ram me hard from behind – this time wrenching my back. I thought to myself as I finished my final few laps that this was a contact sport not for the faint of heart.

Now, several hours later, my ribs and back are in serious pain. It hurts to stand up and sit down, it hurts to get in and out of the car, it hurts to get in and out of bed, and it hurts to twist in any direction. Luckily, it doesn't hurt to breath, though a deep breath is uncomfortable.



Later….

And with those last words I fell promptly asleep. I woke up later to find my lap top sleeping peacefully on my lap. Kind of funny.

Well, it’s morning now and its safe to say it was a rather long night. Steve & Jenne’ reminded me to ice it rather than use the heating pad (which was what I wanted to do) and so I got up several times during the night and went down to the freezer to retrieve or return the ice pack Steve made for me. I spooked myself going downstairs because all the security lights had come on around the outside of the house and I was sure someone was lurking outside the windows watching me. That is the first time I have ever felt afraid in this house, and because I generally never worry about intruders, think it must have been the result of the pain and the heavy doses of ibuprofen I was taking.

Anyway, I laid on my back with the ice pack against my side and back ribs and hugged the heating pad to my stomach to keep from getting too cold. It was hard to sleep when I wasn’t icing because I just couldn’t find a comfortable position.

This morning I checked the internet again to see if I might have broken ribs, but my symptoms seem to clearly indicate bruised ribs and perhaps strained oblique muscles. Either way, there is nothing to do other than take it easy and wait several weeks for the pain to pass. Good grief!

Well, it seems there should be a moral to this story and I guess I have two take-aways.

(1) Kenny – one of the guys I was racing with - did not drive his kart aggressively the way the rest of us did. He took some “ribbing” about it (nice – huh?) and simply explained that he was having fun but didn’t want to hurt himself. In hindsight, his attitude seems especially wise.

(2) I think this proves my point about needing to focus more on strengthening my core muscles with less focus on my arms, shoulders, etc. After nearly 9 months with my trainer, my upper body is in great shape, but I think I would have sustained less of an injury if my core muscles were stronger. I know this was an extreme blow, I probably would have gotten hurt no matter what, but I don’t think it would have been this bad if I were stronger.

Well – I am going to use this as an excuse to spend some extra time in bed this morning. Sam has been in New York City all week and comes home tonight. Hooray!